By Jafar M Ramini

A solitary Italian Jew who was born in Libya 56 years ago, psychoanalyst, David Gerbi has returned to Libya demanding his citizen’s democratic rights. You just can’t make it up.

David Gerbi, who migrated from Libya to Italy at the age of twelve claims he is facing discrimination because he is trying to clean up and re-open the Dar Bishi Synagogue in Tripoli and gain recognition for Jews in the new Libya.

Mr. Gerbi, wearing a yarmulke on his head and a star of David pendant around his neck said that he is claiming his citizen’s democratic rights and demanding to be included as a member of the NTC, saying, and I quote, “ They think they can make threats that they are going to kill me, but I am not going to give up. Like they did not give up to Gadhafi, I am not going to give up to them.” He further said, “I just wanted to clean the Synagogue because I don’t want to see it full of garbage, desecrated in the eyes of God.” He also said that the NTC needed to back his efforts to establish its democratic credentials. “ I am not here to play hero, I don’t want to play martyr. I just want to be here to support the new Libyan democracy.”

No, Mr. Gerbi. You are not here to play the hero or be martyred; you are here to play the victim. The Jews through history have perfected the role of ‘the victim’ to a fine art. There is no doubt that they were victimized, mostly in Europe and they were killed and murdered in their millions, amongst other minorities, during the Nazi regime. But they have used this to maximum effect to gain sympathy and a homeland in Palestine.

This story was plastered all over the western press, especially in the US, with no mention whatsoever of the atrocities Israel is committing against Palestine and the Palestinians.

Contrast all this with the Israeli settlers vandalizing two Mosques in the West Bank last month and the burning of a Mosque in the village of Tuba Zangaria and desecrating holy books and the Quoran with graffiti reading ‘Price-tag’ and ‘Revenge’, signifying payback for curbing settlements in the West Bank. Mr. Shimon Peres paid a visit to the burnt Mosque and said, “ I am shocked to the depth of my soul. I am full of shame and disgrace…there is not one Israeli who is not ashamed.”
Mr. Netanyahu was quoted as saying that it affected the nation’s core values.
Yet, this morning we read in the press, including the Israeli press, that Shin Beth, the Israeli Internal Security Service, has issued a gagging order on the reporting and investigation of this incident. Suddenly it is dead. We hear no more.

Mr. Gerbi, who is the victim here and who is the perpetrator?

Wadi Hilweh in Silwan was closed for Hebrew New Year and four children aged between eight and eleven years were summoned by the Israeli Authority for interrogation for allegedly throwing stones.

Mr. Gerbi, who is the victim here and who is the perpetrator?

Access to Al Aqsa Mosque was restricted to worshippers during the celebration of the Jewish New Year in Jerusalem.

On Monday the director of the Hebron Endowments, Ziyad Al-Ja’bari, said that Israel is closing the sacred Ibrahim Mosque for Muslims and banning the call for prayers on this coming Saturday, October 8th and opening the corridors and courtyards of the Mosque for Jewish settlers to celebrate Yom Kippur.

Who is the victim here, Mr. Gerbi? And who is the perpetrator?

I witnessed with my own eyes almost a year ago the desecration of the sanctity of Al Jazzar Mosque in Acre. The Israeli Authorities have allowed bars and sleaze clubs with loud music to open, adjacent to the walls of the Mosque, disrupting the prayers and encouraging scantily clad Israeli youth and tourists to wander in and out of the courtyards. My wife and I were inspected, questioned and searched by the Israeli IDF guards before they allowed us into the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The call to prayers from Al Aqsa Mosque was being drowned by chants and the blowing of horns through loudspeakers emanating from the Wailing Wall area and surrounding Synagogue.

Who is the victim here, Mr. Gerbi? And who is the perpetrator?

Bethlehem is separated from its surrounding Palestinian villages by an aggressive high wall, not to mention the harsh conditions at the check points where Palestinians are made to queue for hours on end before they are allowed entry if they are lucky.

Who is the victim here, Mr. Gerbi? And who is the perpetrator?

The settlers in Hebron surround the local Palestinian population and harass them with abusive language and firepower under the bored gaze and protection of the IDF on a daily basis

Who is the victim here, Mr. Gerbi? And who is the perpetrator?

This is the olive-harvesting season all over Palestine, but in Nablus, Jenin and Hebron the Israeli settlers and the extremists are uprooting our olive trees and burning our meadows under the protection of the Israeli Defence Force.

The incursions into Jenin with brute force by the IDF and the arrest and collective punishment of men, women and children are frequent events that the Palestinians have to live with day in day out.

Who is the victim here, Mr. Gerbi? And who is the perpetrator?


The harsh treatment of Palestinians at the checkpoint between Qalandya and Sheikh Jarrah is inhumane and deliberately cruel designed to prevent Palestinians in the West Bank from visiting Jerusalem. Did you know, Mr. Gerbi, that a Palestinian male over the age of fourteen from the West Bank is not allowed entry in Jerusalem?

Who is the victim here, Mr. Gerbi? And who is the perpetrator?

This morning, on BBC Radio 4, I heard Mrs. Livni, who is here on a visit to London saying she would be willing to withdraw from selected parts of ‘the historical land of Israel’ to allow the Palestinians their miniscule state. She didn’t even acknowledge ‘the historic land of Palestine’ and that we have been occupied for 63 years. An act of charity? Or blatant aggression and disregard for human rights and the rule of law?

You tell me, Mr. Gerbi.

I could go on, and on and on. But I won’t. Other than to say that we are here and we are staying. We have a voice and we are being heard. We have a right and it is being acknowledged.

No, Mr. Gerbi. You are not the chosen one. You are the aggressor.

Jafar M. Ramini
Salam Wa Laisa Estislam
Peace Not Capitulation